Life Assurance to pay of deceased debts

Lovecats

Must life assurance be used to pay a deceased person's debt?

[Deleted User]

You don't need Martin.

No to both 1 and 2. The debts will be settled for the estate.

Just keep them informed as to the progress of the estate. There's no immediate hurry.

You've received standard letters. I doubt anyone has told them when the funeral was, or current status of the estate.

Flugelhorn

Re the funeral costs - it will be down to whoever signed the paperwork to pay the bill and then claim it back from the estate.

Sometimes the bank will pay funeral directors directly but not sure how this works with grandfather's name no longer on the account.

the will will still be valid (unless they married / divorced in the meantime), though it sounds like relatively little in the estate and the executor may not need to apply for probate

dunstonh

Sorry for your loss

I'm not trying to dodge the debt but I'm just a bit confused about what to do next for my Grandmother, who is useless with money. Before he passed, I told my Grandfather not to worry, that I would look after her. I hardly slept at all last night with worry. Does anyone have any advice?

The debts form part of the estate and would be repaid from sole/joint assets. So, whether Lloyds take it from the account or not, the debt would still need to be repaid.

If there is insuffiicent cash to clear the debts then sole and joint assets would need to be sold to raise the cash. Only sole assets in your grandmother's name at the date of death would be exempt.

Scottish widows are taking so long,

They would only have been notified around 7 working days ago or less by the time the notification got from Lloyds to SW. That is not a long time.